The invention relates to a filling member made from metal for bone cavities. The invention also relates to a process for the manufacture of such filling members.
During operations on bones, in particular during the implantation of hip joints, it may be necessary in a bone cavity to insert a filling member to provide the bone with an additional support, or to delimit the bone cavity, for example in relation to the medullary space. The filling member has to meet high requirements. Thus the filling member has to be biologically compatible and have the property that during and after the operation no individual fragments become detached from the filling member and become deposited anywhere in the body in an uncontrolled manner. U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,550 discloses a filling member which is made from short, randomly curved, metal fibers, which were baked in a sintering process to form a porous filling member. A material very well tolerated by the body is titanium; however it is extremely exacting to work. If titanium is heated during the working process for forming, for example in a sintering process, there is the danger of embrittlement. In a filling member worked with such a forming process there is thus the danger of individual fragments becoming detached. Heating during the forming operation may be avoided by a metal-cutting production. However in this case there is the danger that extremely small chips are formed.